gastropod

Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

n. Any of various mollusks of the class Gastropoda, such as the snail, slug, cowrie, or limpet, characteristically having a single, usually coiled shell or no shell at all, a ventral muscular foot for locomotion, and eyes and feelers located on a distinct head.

adj. Of or belonging to the class Gastropoda.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

n. Any member of a class of mollusks (Gastropoda) that includes snails and slugs; univalve mollusk.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English

from The Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

n. a class of mollusks typically having a one-piece coiled shell and flattened muscular foot with a head bearing stalked eyes

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

From New Latin Gastropoda, class name : gastro- + -poda, -pod.

Examples

The substrata with which a terrestrial gastropod is in contact must be sufficiently wet, the air humidity adequately high, and perhaps its food of a high enough water content so that the animal’s daily activity does not result in a negative water balance.

The surface a gastropod is on must be sufficiently wet, the air humidity adequately high, and its food of a high enough water content so that daily activity doesn’t result in a negative water balance. (8 words shorter.)

In The Sound of a Wild Snail Eating Algonquin, $18.95, Bailey explains how she became fascinated with the creature, studying its habits, taking comfort in its routines and poring over gastropod literature for snail-related arcana.